JP2006031100A - Electronic device, data update system, and data update program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic device, a data update system, and a data update program capable of quickly handling a request for an additional language at low costs. <P>SOLUTION: In the electronic device (10) having control means (14a and 14b) for controlling motions based on firmware which can be updated and a display means (11) for displaying information related with functions of the firmware, the electronic device (10) is also provided with a receiving means (13) capable of receiving data of the additional language excluding a plurality of languages used for displaying the information from an external device as well as the firmware. The control means are electronic devices displaying the information on the display means by using the data of the additional language. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for updating firmware and related data, and more particularly to a technology that can quickly and inexpensively respond to a request for adding a language handled by the firmware.

  Digital cameras are exported and used all over the world. Therefore, the digital camera can select a language to be displayed from many languages. However, as the market expands, there is always a demand for support for additional languages.

  Conventionally, all language (character string) data displayed in a digital camera is built in the program memory of the camera. When adding a language that cannot be selected by the camera, the firmware with the language data added is programmed. A method of re-storing in the internal memory, that is, rewriting the firmware is used.

  However, each time the number of languages used increases, a program memory capacity for storing the languages is required, resulting in an increase in product cost. In addition, because of the relationship between the firmware and language data, there is a problem that a new ROM design is required each time a language is added, resulting in a delay in meeting needs as the cost increases.

  The following techniques are known as elemental techniques for dealing with such problems.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for changing a language by downloading language data via a network and writing it in a memory. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a method of displaying in place of omitted data when there is no desired language data.
JP 2001-86286 A Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-33806

  The technology described in Patent Document 1 describes that language data is acquired by communication, but does not describe a relationship with firmware that is a main body program that handles the language data. In general, the function of firmware is usually changed by version upgrade, and the format of language data to be used is often changed accordingly. Therefore, it is necessary to make arrangements so that the correspondence between the two matches, but this point is neither described nor suggested. Further, the technique described in Patent Document 2 has a problem that it is not easy to use.

  Furthermore, both patent documents do not clearly indicate that the request for adding language data, which is a problem to be solved by the present invention, can be quickly handled, and that the increase in ROM production cost due to the addition of language data is prevented.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device, a data update system, and a data update program that can quickly and quickly respond to a request for additional languages. .

  In order to solve the above problems, an electronic device according to claim 1 of the present invention displays control means for controlling operation based on updatable firmware and information related to the function of the firmware. An electronic device having display means, comprising: receiving means capable of receiving data of a new additional language other than languages of a plurality of countries used for displaying the information from an external device together with the firmware; and The means displays the additional language data on the display means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electronic device according to the second aspect, wherein the firmware stores data in a plurality of languages used for displaying the information. And additional language storage means for storing data of at least one additional language.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to the above-described invention, at least the model name of the electronic device is stored in the electronic device before the reception unit receives the electronic device. Current information transmitting means for transmitting the firmware version and the language type stored in the additional language storage means to the external device is further provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electronic device according to the present invention, wherein the electronic device is the firmware version information transmitted from the external device according to the information transmitted by the current information transmitting unit. Data request transmitting means for requesting at least one of firmware data and additional language data specified by the user based on the addable language information is further provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data updating system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, comprising: the electronic device according to the invention described above; and the external device connected to the electronic device. Based on the information transmitted by the current information transmitting means, the list information transmitting means for transmitting firmware version information and addable language information to the electronic device, and the data request transmitting means of the electronic device transmits Data transmitting means for transmitting at least one of firmware data and additional language data of a version specified by the user based on the request to the electronic device.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data update program according to the present invention, comprising: a control unit that controls an operation based on updatable firmware; and a display unit that displays information related to the function of the firmware. A data update program for a device, the receiving step of receiving data of a new additional language other than languages of a plurality of countries used for displaying the information from an external device together with the firmware, and the data of the additional language And causing the computer to execute a display step of displaying on the display means.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the data update program according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, wherein at least the model name of the electronic device and the electronic device are stored in the electronic device before the reception unit receives the data update program. A current information transmission step of transmitting the firmware version and the language type stored in the additional language storage means to the external device is further provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly and inexpensively respond to a request for a further additional language.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the following embodiments, a digital camera will be described as an example of an electronic device.

  The digital camera 10 includes a display unit 11, an operation input unit 12, a communication interface 13, a processing unit 14, a camera buffer 15, and a storage unit 17. The processing unit 14 includes a system unit 14a and a user unit 14b, and the user unit 14b is provided with a standard language data storage area 14c. The storage unit 17 includes an adjustment value storage area 17a, a camera setting information storage area 17b, and an additional language data storage area 17c. The processing unit 14 and the storage unit 17 are provided in a nonvolatile memory.

  The display unit 11 is a display device such as a TFT liquid crystal display. The operation input unit 12 is an input device such as a cross key or a numeric keypad for receiving an operation instruction input from a user. The communication interface 13 exchanges information with an external device. The camera buffer 15 is a memory (RAM) that can temporarily store display data and the like.

  The processing unit 14 comprehensively controls the operation of the digital camera 10. The system unit 14a is an area where the system program operates, and the user unit 14b is an area where the application program operates. In the standard language data storage area 14c, a plurality of language data corresponding to the shipping destination of the digital camera 10 (hereinafter referred to as “destination”) is stored. The program stored in the user unit 14b is referred to as “firmware main body”.

  The storage unit 17 stores various data necessary for controlling the digital camera 10. The adjustment value storage area 17a stores data for adjusting specifications and the like according to the destination. The camera setting information storage area 17b stores various parameter values relating to the operation of the camera. The additional language data storage area 17c stores language data added after shipment.

  FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional digital camera. The difference between the digital camera 10 of the present embodiment and the conventional digital camera will be described.

  The first difference is that the capacity of the standard language data storage area 14c is made smaller than before. Conventionally, ten or more languages such as Japanese, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hangul, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese are stored in the standard language data storage area 14c. In the present embodiment, the world is classified into eight destinations, and a plurality of languages to be incorporated for each destination are determined. Therefore, the capacity of the standard language data storage area 14c can be reduced to about 1/3 to 1/5 as compared with the conventional case.

  The second difference is that an additional language data storage area 17c is newly provided. This area is empty at the time of shipment, but when the user adds a language, the added language data is stored in this area. The additional language data storage area 17c only needs to have a capacity for adding only one language, but is not limited thereto, and may have a capacity for storing a plurality of language data.

  Next, a method for adding language data will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration when adding language data. When adding language data, the digital camera 10 receives necessary data from a Web server (hereinafter referred to as “server”) 30 via a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) 20. The digital camera 10 and the PC 20 are connected by a USB cable 26, and the PC 20 and the server 30 are connected by a communication line 27 such as the Internet.

  The database of the server 30 stores a firmware main body 32 and a plurality of rewritable language data 33 corresponding thereto. The server application 31 exchanges information with the firmware update application 21 of the PC 20 and specifies necessary data. Then, necessary data is extracted from the database and transmitted to the PC 20.

  In the PC 20, the firmware update application 21 receives the transmitted data, and transmits the data to the digital camera 10 via the communication library 22 and the USB driver 23. The digital camera 10 stores the transmitted data in the temporary camera buffer 15 and then updates its own data based on the data.

  Next, the procedure of language data addition processing will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  When the user activates the firmware update application 21 of the PC 20, an initial screen for firmware update is displayed in steps P 1 to P 2 in FIG. 3 and an instruction is given to connect the digital camera to the USB cable 26.

  Therefore, after confirming that the camera is turned off in steps D1 to D3, the user inserts the USB cable 26 into the PC 20 and turns on the camera. When the USB cable 26 is connected to the PC 20, the operation state of the digital camera 10 is locked and the communication command from the PC 20 is waited for.

  In step P3, the PC 20 determines whether the USB cable 26 is inserted. If the USB cable 26 is inserted, the session is established. In step D4, the digital camera 20 responds to session establishment from the PC 20.

  In step P4, the PC 20 requests the digital camera 10 for model information. In step D5, the digital camera 10 transmits the camera model name to the PC 20. Next, the PC 20 requests version information from the digital camera 10 in step P5. In step D6, the digital camera 10 transmits the firmware version to the PC 20. Further, the PC 20 requests language information from the digital camera 10 in step P6. In step D7, the digital camera 10 transmits data representing the language type existing in the additional language data storage area 17c to the PC 20. In the state at the time of shipment, there is no language data in the additional language data storage area 17c, and therefore data indicating that it is empty is transmitted to the PC 20.

  Next, the PC 20 performs an information exchange operation with the server 30.

  In step P7, the PC 20 transmits the model name, version, and language information to the server 30. In steps W1 to W2, the server 30 examines the database based on the received model name, version, and language type information, and for the corresponding model name, the transmitted version, the latest firmware version, and the respective versions A list of rewritable language data corresponding to the version of firmware is transmitted to the PC 20.

  In steps P8 to P9, the PC 20 displays a list of received firmware versions and rewritable language data. Then, the user is allowed to select whether to update to the latest firmware or whether there is a language to be added from the rewritable language data.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a selection screen for allowing the user to select.

  On the selection screen 35, a version selection unit 35a for selecting the version of the firmware main body is displayed. For example, when the user selects version 1.1 which is the latest version, a language selection unit 35b for selecting a rewritable language corresponding to the version is displayed. The user can select a desired language from the displayed ones. The language can also be “not selected”.

  Then, the PC 20 transmits information representing the selected firmware version and language type to the server 30. In steps W <b> 3 to W <b> 4, the server 30 examines the database based on the received information, and transmits the selected firmware and language data to the PC 20.

  In steps P10 to P11, the PC 20 transfers the received firmware and language data to the digital camera 20. When the transmission capacity increases, the data is divided and transmitted. In step P12, after the transfer is completed, the digital camera 10 is instructed to check data.

  In the digital camera 10, data such as firmware transferred from the PC 20 is temporarily stored in the camera buffer 15 in step D8. Next, when a data check request is transmitted from the PC, data transferred to the camera buffer 15 is checked in step D9. The contents of the check include a sum check, firmware that conforms to the model of the digital camera 10, and language data. In step D10, the check result is transmitted to the PC 20.

  The PC 20 checks whether an error has occurred in the data check in steps P13 to P14. If an error has occurred, an error message is displayed in step P16 and the process ends. If no error has occurred, a firmware update instruction is transmitted to the digital camera 10 in step P15.

  When the digital camera 10 receives a firmware update instruction in steps D11 to D13, the digital camera 10 executes rewrite processing using data such as firmware and language data in the camera buffer 15. Then, it is checked whether an error has occurred in the rewriting process. If an error has occurred, an error message is displayed on the display unit 11 in step D14, and if no error has occurred, an OK message is displayed on the display unit 11 in step D15.

  When the above processing is completed, the user turns off the power of the camera, and then disconnects the USB cable 26 that is a communication line with the PC 20.

  Next, various aspects of the language data addition process according to the above procedure will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of the language data adding operation. The additional language data and firmware are transferred from the left to the right in FIG. Hereinafter, the outline of the processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  (1) At the firmware download stage, at least one of the firmware main body and rewritable language data is sent from the server 30 to the PC 20 in response to the user's selection.

  (2) In the firmware transfer stage, the camera 10 temporarily stores the data transferred from the PC 20 in the camera buffer 15 of the camera.

  (3) In the firmware upgrade stage, the firmware main body is stored in the user unit 14b, and the rewritable language data is stored in the additional language data storage area 17c. As shown in FIG. 6, since the firmware main body includes the standard language data storage area 14c, there is no possibility of inconsistency with language data due to version upgrade. If rewritten language data is already stored in the additional language data storage area 17c, it is rewritten with new rewritable language data. On the other hand, when the rewriting language is not selected, the additional language data storage area 17c is cleared.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a specific example of language data addition processing.

  As shown in (1) of FIG. 7, when the version of the firmware main body in the digital camera 10 before the firmware update is 1.0 and there is no language in the additional language data storage area 17c, the user 1.0, that is, the version is not changed, and ESP (Spain) is selected as the rewritable language.

  Then, as shown in (2) of FIG. 7, only language data is transmitted from the server 30, and Spanish is stored in the additional language data storage area 17c. This allows the user to use Spanish.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another specific example of language data addition processing.

  As shown in (1) of FIG. 8, when the version of the firmware main body in the digital camera 10 before the firmware upgrade is 1.0 and Spanish is stored in the additional language data storage area 17c, the user Select to change the version of the wear body to 1.1, that is, the latest version, and select ITA (Italy) as the rewritable language.

  Then, as shown in (2) of FIG. 8, the firmware body and language data are transmitted from the server 30, the firmware body (version 1.1) is stored in the user unit 14b, and an additional language data storage area is stored. Italian is stored in 17c. This allows the user to use a new version of firmware and an additional language, Italian.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a language menu screen of the digital camera.

  As shown in (1) of FIG. 9, when four languages are installed before language addition, four languages are displayed on one screen. Here, when Italian is added, the added language name is displayed at the end of the language menu screen. As shown in (2) of FIG. 9, since only one language can be displayed on the screen at a maximum of four languages, the added language is displayed on the second page after the addition, and an icon is displayed on the left side of the added language display. The As a result, the user can confirm that the language has been added.

  In the present embodiment, only one language data can be stored in the additional language data storage area. However, the present invention is not limited to this mode, and a plurality of language data may be stored.

[Effect of the embodiment]
According to the embodiment described above, since the rewritable language data storage area for storing at least one language data is provided separately from the firmware main body, a language can be added independently of the firmware main body. Therefore, various languages can be supported by adding or replacing only language data later.

  In addition, the firmware and additional languages can be rewritten using the camera model name, firmware version, and language type, so the latest language data can be automatically selected on the PC and the firmware can be updated. Therefore, there is no need for selection for the user.

  When updating the firmware, the electronic device and the target firmware can be specified by the three pieces of information, so that the same update program that does not depend on the electronic device can be used if the communication method is the same.

  Furthermore, when updating the firmware, the language data can be updated to the optimum one at the same time. Accordingly, even when the function is expanded, the language can be displayed correctly without performing abbreviated display such as blank display.

  In addition, since the combination of firmware and language data is automatically selected and updated, for example, the user forgets to update the language data and can provide a user-friendly system.

  Each function described in the above embodiment may be configured using hardware, or may be realized by reading a program describing each function into a computer using software. Each function may be configured by appropriately selecting either software or hardware.

  Furthermore, each function can be realized by causing a computer to read a program stored in a recording medium (not shown). Here, as long as the recording medium in the present embodiment can record a program and can be read by a computer, the recording format may be any form.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electronic device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the system configuration | structure at the time of adding language data. The flowchart which shows the procedure of a language data addition process. The flowchart which shows the procedure of a language data addition process. The figure which shows a selection screen. The figure which shows the outline | summary of a language data addition operation | movement. The figure which shows the specific example of a language data addition process. The figure which shows the other specific example of a language data addition process. The figure which shows the language menu screen of a digital camera.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Digital camera, 11 ... Display part, 13 ... Communication interface, 14 ... Processing part, 14a ... System part, 14b ... User part, 14c ... Standard language data storage area, 15 ... Camera buffer, 17 ... Storage part, 17c ... Additional language data storage area, 20 ... PC, 26 ... USB cable, 27 ... communication line, 30 ... server, 32 ... firmware main body, 33 ... rewritable language data, 35 ... selection screen.

Claims (7)

An electronic device having control means for controlling operation based on updatable firmware and display means for displaying information related to the function of the firmware,
Receiving means capable of receiving data of a new additional language other than languages of a plurality of countries used for displaying the information from an external device together with the firmware,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays the additional language data on the display unit. The firmware has standard language storage means for storing data of languages of a plurality of countries used for displaying the information,
2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising additional language storage means for storing data of at least one of the additional languages.   Before receiving by the receiving unit, at least the model name of the electronic device, the firmware version stored in the electronic device, and the language type stored in the additional language storage unit are transmitted to the external device. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a current information transmission unit.   At least one of firmware data and additional language data of a version specified by the user based on firmware version information and addable language information transmitted from the external device according to information transmitted by the current information transmitting means 4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a data request transmission means for requesting one. A data updating system comprising the electronic device according to claim 4 and the external device connected to the electronic device.
The external device is
List information transmission means for transmitting firmware version information and addable language information to the electronic apparatus based on information transmitted by the current information transmission means of the electronic apparatus;
Data transmission means for transmitting at least one of firmware data and additional language data of a version specified by a user based on a request transmitted by the data request transmission means of the electronic device to the electronic device. Data update system. A data update program for an electronic device having control means for controlling operation based on updatable firmware and display means for displaying information relating to the function of the firmware,
Receiving a new additional language data other than languages of a plurality of countries used for displaying the information from the external device together with the firmware; and
A program for causing a computer to execute a display step of displaying on the display means using the data of the additional language.   Before receiving by the receiving unit, at least the model name of the electronic device, the firmware version stored in the electronic device, and the language type stored in the additional language storage unit are transmitted to the external device. The program according to claim 6, further comprising a current information transmission step.

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